Bricklaying machine



Sept. 22', 1970 R. C. EDWARDS. JR

BRICKLAYING MACHINE 3 Shets-Sheet 1 Filed June 24. 1368 INVENTOR a J WMmm! m E c .DM M lw M m. M

ma ma I I Sept. 22, 1970 R. c. EDWARDS, JR

BRICKLAYING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 24, 1968- \NVENTORRucumzp C. EDWARDS J2 BY (1.95M, uQLLmifWW-AT fhw w fiiforne J p 970 R.c. EDWARDS, JR 3,529,395

BRICKLAYING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 24. 196

, lNVENTOR Qmum C EDWARDS J2.

BY uQwaM (1mm, aw mw ww United States Patent 3,529,395 BRICKLAYINGMACHINE Richard C. Edwards, Jr., 900 Graham St., Franklin, Ind. 46131Filed June 24, 1968, Ser. No. 739,309 Int. Cl. E04g 21/22 US. Cl. 52-74912 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A plurality of carriages connectedtogether and suspended from a rail supported by stands verticallyadjustable and outside a line of a wall to be built. A drive motor forcarriage movement in unison along the rail and driving variouscomponents including a mortar pump, brick release latch, a brick stackconveyor, and a joint closer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention-This inventionrelates generally to building construction apparatus, and moreparticularly to a machine for depositing discrete building unitstogether with a suitable bonding agent for wall construction.

Description of the Prior Art-Examples of prior art patents are asfollows: 1,606,001, Thomson, Nov. 9, 1926; 1,666,555, Cottier, Apr. 17,1928; 1,686,279, Kaye, Oct. 2, 1928; 1,786,622, Layer, Dec. 30, 1930;3,177,621, Demarest, Apr. 13, 1965; 3,325,960, James, June 20, 1967.

Apparently for some one or multiplicity of reasons, prior art machineshave not achieved widespread success. Some of them are awkward andcumbersome and susceptible to malfunction. Others require the wallitself for their support, which imposes certain limitations on thenumber of courses which can be laid within a given time to allow formortar setting. The present invention is believed to meet therequirements for an acceptable and feasible bricklaying machine.

SUMMARY Described briefly, in a typical embodiment of the presentinvention, a suspended carriage assembly is mounted to an overhead railand driven along by a motor. A supply of bricks and mortar is maintainedon the assembly, and suitable mechanisms are provided for operation bythe motor for deposit of mortar and bricks at the proper location andsequence to construct a brick wall. Gapping, leveling, and trimmingmeans are also provided, and an adjustable conveyor is incorporated forcontrolling brick movement in the carriage for maintenance of acontinuous supply.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The full nature of the invention willbe understood from the accompanying drawings and the followingdescription and claims.

FIG. 1 is a schematic elevational view of a typical embodiment as seenfrom inside the line of the wall to be built.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of corner loop in the support rail.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged top plan view of a switch at the loopintersection.

FIG. 4 is an elevation at line 44 in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective of the brick hopper as seen frominside the wall line.

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the brick hopper.

FIG. 7 is a further enlarged elevation of one of the brick latchesholding a brick to be deposited.

FIG. 8 is a view like FIG. 7 but showing the latch operated to release abrick.

3,529,395 Patented Sept. 22, 1970 FIG. 9 is a highly enlarged view ofhanger details for shifting of a unit to traverse window openings.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged end view of the lower portion of the mortarhopper, and the mortar shaper.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged perspective of the joint closer.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings indetail, and particularly the assembly drawings, a group of hangers ismounted on a rail 11 which extends parallel to the proposed buildingwall and is supported by a number of C-shaped stands 12 mounted on theground and spaced along the proposed wall to the exterior thereof. Asuitable crank 14 is provided on each of the stands for raising the rail11 for each subsequent course of brick. A suitable gear mechanism (notshown) can be provided in each of the stands for use with a story polethereon to facilitate determination of the appropriate change ofelevation as each course of brick is laid.

The machine includes a motor 16 driving the gear 15 engaging a gear rackextending along the underside of the rail 11. This moves the carriageassembly along the rail in the direction of arrow 36 and rack 20.

In one of the carriages a mortar hopper 17 is provided and has an outletat its bottom for depositing mortar on the top of the previously laidcourse of brick, as the carriage is moved along by the motor. It alsohas a pump 18 extending therethrough with a discharge pipe 19 fordepositing some mortar at the end of each brick for the butt joint. Thispump is driven by an eccentric or some other such mechanism 21 driven bya chain 22 from sprockets 23 on an auger-shaft driven by chain 24 fromthe motor 16.

An additional chain and eccentric mechanism 26 is provided to releaseone brick-at-a-time from a brick hopper 27 mounted on another carriage28 connected to the mortar hopper carriage to be pulled along therewith.The bricks are loaded into the outside end if this hopper in thedirection of arrow 29 and a belt-type advancing means 31 (which will bedescribed in more detail at a later point) is efiective to move eachstack of bricks into the vertical discharge column or drop chute 32 atthe inner end of the hopper as soon as all of the bricks have beendischarged from the stack in the discharge column. A suitable switchstructure can be mounted in the discharge chute to sense the absence ofa stack of bricks therein and engage a clutch to cause the conveyor todrive a new stack of bricks into position in the discharge column.

A joint closer is mounted on the last carriage 33 at 34 and will bedescribed in more detail hereinafter. Its purpose is to be sure thateach brick dropped from the brick hopper discharge column 32 is movedsnugly into place at the proper end gap distance from the immediatelypreceding brick. For example, brick 37, the one still below the brickhopper column from which it was deposited, might have its end two inchesfrom the end of the previously laid brick. The joint closer will movethis brick closer to the preceding brick to close up the gap for anappropriate /8 inch butt joint spacing, for example. The joint closer isdriven by appropriate chains and sprockets driven by the motor 16.

The last carriage suspended from the rail supports the brick leveler 38and that is followed by a trowel 39 for finishing the joint at theexterior of the wall, the trimmed mortar being deposited in the box 41for occasional removal by a hod carrier.

All of the carriages are connected together so that a constant axial orlongitudinal spacing is maintained between them and they are moved alongin unison by the drive motor 16. It is to be noted in FIG. 2, however,that a loop is provided in the rail, the loop being disposed in ahorizontal plane. The purpose of this loop is to enable the machine togo around a corner of a building. The lineal distance around the loopfrom the point of intersection of the two intersecting runs of carriagesupport rail, is adequate to enable the entire assembly of carriages totraverse the loop without collision of the mortar hopper with theleveler and trimmer carriage. It must be recognized, of course, that theconnection between the various carriages must be such that while itprevents any variation in axial or linear distance between the variouscarriages, it will permit them to traverse the loop without difiiculty.Once the loop has been traversed, the machine begins laying theintersecting wall. It can be recognized, of course, that virtually anyangle of intersection can be provided and the included angle ofintersection of the loop would be selected accordingly.

Referring now to certain features in more detail, the pump 18 can be asimple piston-type pump having -an inlet in the mortar hopper for entryof mortar into the cylinder of the pump, and discharge therefrom to thepipe 19 by advance of the plunger in the pump. A more sophisticated typeof pump, with valves and the like might be provided, but it is preferredto keep the apparatus as simple and inexpensive as possible.

Referring now particularly to the brick hopper 27, the carriage 28therefor, much like the other carriages, is suspended from the rail 11by two hangers 43 each having two rollers 44 thereon received in thegrooves 46 in the rail 11. The downwardly projecting arm 47 of thecarriage supports a generally box-like structure which forms thevertical discharge column or drop chute 32. At the upper and lower endsof this chute, horizontal plates 48 are provided and serve as upper andlower supports for conveyor belt idler shafts 49.

At the outer end of the brick hopper, the downwardly extending arm 51 ofcarriage 28 also supports upper and lower plates 52 which serve as upperand lower pivots for conveyor belt spools 53. Each of these spools 49and 53 supports two runs of a conveyor belt. For example one of thespools 49 and 53 supports an inner run 54 and outer run 56 of a wovenmetal belt having a plurality of horizontally spaced upstanding cleats57 thereon. The spacing between these cleats is just a bit greater thanthe width of the bricks to be disposed in the hopper so that the innerruns 54 and 54A of the facing belts serve to locate seven stacks ofbricks in the illustrated embodiment, the stack 58 being in the verticaldischarge column, and the stack 59 being at the outer end of the hopper,

most remote from the discharge column. The upper and lower bars at eachend of the hopper are horizontally slotted as at 61, for example, toenable movement of the belt 54-56 in the direction of arrow 62 toaccommodate longer or shorter bricks, such as eight inch long bricks ortwelve inch long bricks, as desired. Suitable locating clips can beprovided on the bars 48 and 52 to enable positioning of the spools 49and 53 at the desired location for the length of bricks to be used.

In order to support the bricks so that they can be readily moved by theconveyor from the outer end toward the inner end of the brick hopper,the bottom surface may be made of a series of anti-friction bearings 63in a staggered arrangement, alternate rows being mounted on commonshafts 64 and 66, respectively, the latter being supported in horizontalframes 67 connected to the carriage members 47 and 51, throughappropriate end plates. The type of anti-friction bearings contemplatedis a sealed ball bearing. Other devices might also be used to facilitatemovement of the bricks by the brick hopper conveyor belts.

A switch 68 may be located in the discharge chute to sense the absenceof a brick therein when the last brick of a stack is in position forrelease onto the wall. Closure of this switch engages a clutch 69connected to the drive motor 16 as indicated by the dotted line 71 andalso connected to the drive spools 53 for the two belts to drive themuntil the next stack of brick is disposed in the discharge column tode-activate the switch 68.

During operation of the apparatus, while laying bricks that are eightinches long, a brick must be released from the discharge chute once forabout every eight and threeeighth inches of travel of the apparatus,considering a three-eighth inch butt joint between successive bricks ina course. For this purpose brick latches are provided, one at each endof the brick at the bottom of the discharge chute. A description of onewill suflice for both, as they are identical.

The brick latch 72 includes a lower plate 73 having an inner edge 74disposed under the end of brick 76. Another plate 77 is affixed to plate73 at 78 and a pin 79 extends lengthwise of the junction 78 and isreceived in slots 81 in the outwardly projecting downwardly extendingarms 82 at the drop chute. The angular relationship between the plates73 and 77 remains virtually constant and a cam follower lug 83 may beprovided on the upper surface of plate 73 but located so it will notinterfere with bricks engaging the edge 74. The aperture in this lugreceives a cam 84 mounted on the drive shaft 86 which is driven by asuitable chain drive 26 from the motor 16.

As the chain 26 drives the shaft 86 in rotation, the cam moves theplates 73 and 77 from the position shown in FIG. 7 to the position shownin FIG. 8 whereupon the brick 76 can fall onto the mortar atop theimmediately lower course of bricks, and a brick 87 moves down to replacebrick 76. Brick 87 is prevented from falling out of the chute byengagement of plate 77 with the end 87A of the brick. Engagement of thisretainer plate 77 for this brick latch and the corresponding retainerplate for the other brick latch serves to prevent brick 87 from droppingout on top of brick 76. As the shaft 86 continues to rotate, it movesthe plates back to the initial position whereupon the brick 87 comes torest on the edge 74 of the lower plate 73. It is then ready for depositon the mortar next to brick 76.

The downwardly projecting arms 88 and 89 of carriage 33 support a frame91. The joint closer 34 is disposed between the brick hopper and thefront end of frame 91 and includes a mounting bracket 92 which isaffixed to the front end of the carriage frame 91. A pulling armassembly 93 is mounted to the bracket by means of a rear arm portion 94hinged to the bracket at 96, the front arm portion 97 beingtelescopically received on the rear arm portion at 98. The front armportion includes a downwardly projecting end-engaging lug 99, and aforwardly projection portion 101 having a drive pin receiver slot 102therein.

An oscillator wheel 10-3 driven by motor 16 is provided with a pin 104(FIG. 11) thereon receivable in the notch 102. As the oscillator wheelrotated in the direction of arrow 106, pin 104 moved upward into theslot 102 to lift the front end of the closer arm assembly 93 and move itforward over brick 37 which had just been deposited so that the lug 99moved down in front of the front end of that brick as the oscillatorwheel completed a half revolution. Then the pin disengages from the slot102 permitting the return spring 107 to pull the front end portion 97back along the rear end portion 94 toward the hinge 96. In so doing, thebrick 37 was moved back approximately one and five eighths inches toprovide the desired three eighths inch butt joint gap between brick 37and brick 13. As this occurred, the oscillator wheel completed the otherhalf revolution to the position shown in FIG. 11, and another brick 76dropped from the chute. Again, approximately a two inch end gap existedas at 108 between brick 76 as dropped, and brick 37 as properlypositioned in the Wall. The pin 104 engages the slot 102 and the cycleis repeated for brick 76. As each brick is dropped from the chute ontothe wall, the end of the brick is shot with mortar by the pump dischargepipe 19.

In some building construction, windows and doors will be framed inbefore the brick is laid. In that event it may be necessary for themachine of the present invention to move outwardly and inwardly withrespect to the wall line as a window or door opening is passed. For thatpurpose suitable provisions are made on the carriages as will now bedescribed.

Referring particularly to FIG. 9, some upper details of carriage 33 areshown by way of example. The inner and outer support arms 88 and 89 areconnected by the bridge 109 and hang on the hangers 111 and 112 whosehorizontal space is determined and fixed by the struts 113 and thehangers being mounted to the rail 11 by the rollers 44. The bridge issupported on the hangers by rollers 114 beneath the bridge portion 109,with rollers 116 or otherwise suitable means being provided on top forstability. The mounts for rollers 114 project downwardly through thelongitudinal slots 117 provided in the bridge and the bridge has asolenoid 118 affixed to the central portion thereof, with armatureextension rods 119 extending therefrom to the hangers 111 and 112. Bypushing an appropriate button 121, for example, the solenoid 118 isenergized to shift the bridge 109 and depending arms 88 and 89 therewithoutwardly in the direction of the arrow 122 an amount sufiicient toclear any framing which might be provided in the wall for doors,windows, or other features of construction. An example would be a twoinch shift, and for this purpose a solenoid having a two inch strokewould be used. Other means might also be provided such as a motor, gearand rack assembly for effecting the side shift of the carriage. Once theobstruction has been passed, a return spring 123 connected between oneof the hangers and the bridge member or solenoid frame will return theunit to its original condition. An alternative would be to employ adouble acting solenoid with appropriate control buttons. Otheralternatives might also be devised.

The rail support stands can be connected to scaffolding or any otherstructure for stabilization, if desired. They can also be provided withappropriate leg leveling means including extendable feet 124 adjustableby suitable cranks 126. Built-in bubble levels 127, 128 can be employedto aid in achieving plumb conditions.

In the foregoing description, it is mentioned that a sprocket 23 on anauger shaft is driven by chain 24. This auger shaft 131 is disposedpartially inside and partially outside the mortar hopper, the portioninside having any suitable blades 132 thereon for encouraging anuninterrupted flow of mortar from the hopper onto the course of brick asthe unit is moved along.

If desired to do so, in locations remote from a source of electricpower, the mortar carriage can be used to mount an engine-generator setof sufiicient capacity to drive the motor 16.

As shown in FIG. 1, the lower end of the mortar hopper 17 has a mortarshaper 133 thereon in order to provide a bed of mortar of a properconfiguration for reception of a brick from the brick chute. FIG. showsan end view of the mortar shaper with a brick 134 being downschematically to illustrate the nature of cross section of the mortardeposited and shaped by the mortar shaper 133 at 136. This includeschamfered upper edges at 137 and a flat top 138. A plate 139 can beprovided in the bottom of the mortar hopper at the top of the mortarshaper, for sliding in and out in the direction of the arrows 141, 142(FIG. 1) to reduce or increase the hopper outlet size and thereby adjustthe rate of discharge of mortar from the hopper.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the rail 11 has a loop formed therein at 147 toenable the bricklaying machine to move around the loop in the directionof the arrow 148 and move down the rail 149 perpendicular to rail 11. Tofacilitate passage of the carriages through the intersection into andout of the loop, a switch 143 is provided at the intersection. As shownin FIG. 4, this switch is mounted on a central pivot shaft 144 securedon a bridge 146 between the rail 11 and the loop 147. The switch has arib 151 on the lower edge thereof and on which the gear rack 20 iscontinued. The sides of the rib are aligned with the track grooves 152therein. As long as this rib is parallel to the section of rail in whichthe carriages are moving, they will move past the intersection properly.In order to assure that this is the case, a cam 153 is provided at theforwardmost end of the front carriage. In the event that the switch isfrom the direction needed for passage of the carriages, this cam, whichis just to the left of the center and under the rail, will engage therib 151 and turn the switch to a condition parallel with the rail onwhich the carriages are moving, as the machine moves along. In order tomaintain the proper orientation of the switch during passage of themachine thereover, suitable detent means are provided. An example is thetwo spring loaded pins 153 provided in the switch and received inappropriate detent notches in the ends of the rail sections facing theintersection.

While the invention has been disclosed and described in some detail inthe drawings and foregoing description, they are to be considered asillustrative and not restrictive in character, as other modificationsmay readily suggest themselves to persons skilled in this art and withinthe broad scope of the invention, reference being made to the appendedclaims.

The invention claimed is:

1. A bricklaying machine comprising:

a generally horizontal rail;

ground engaging means supporting said rail;

carriages mounted on said rail and connected together for movement inunison along said rail;

drive means on one of said carriages and driving said carriages alongsaid rail;

a mortar supply means on one of said carriages and having outlet meansdisposed to discharge mortar where a brick is to be deposited; and

a brick hopper in one of said carriages;

release means associated with said brick hopper for timely release ofbricks therefrom for deposit .on a (wall as said carriages move alongsaid rail;

said ground engaging means including a plurality of horizontally-spaced,ground-supported telescopic posts, with height adjustment means thereonincluding a story pole and hand crank on each of said posts to raisesaid rail for each successive course of bricks.

2. A bricklaying machine compirsing:

a generally horizontal rail;

ground engaging means supporting said rail;

carriages mounted on said rail and connected together for movement inunison along said rail;

drive means on one of said carriages and driving said carriages alongsaid rail;

a mortar supply means on one of said carriages and having outlet meansdisposed to discharge mortar where a brick is to be deposited; and

a brick hopper in one of said carriages;

release means associated with said brick hopper for timely release ofbricks therefrom for deposit on a wall as said carriages move along saidrail;

said brick hopper including endless conveyor means disposed to movebricks in stacks toward the point of release, said conveyor means beingperiodically coupled to said drive means upon exhaustion of a stack ofbricks, to move another stack into position for release.

3. The machine of claim 2 wherein:

said brick hopper includes a floor of anti-friction bearing means tofacilitate movement of said brick stacks by said conveyor means toward avertical discharge column above said point of release.

4. The machine of claim 3 and further comprising:

a joint closer on one of said carriages and following said releasemeans, said closer including:

a lug driven by said drive means between positions behind and ahead of abrick deposited by said release means, and engageable with saiddeposited brick for movement thereof back toward a previously depositedbrick.

5. The machine of claim 4 and further comprising:

pump means having an inlet associated with said mortar hopper and anoutlet disposed to discharge mortar onto a butt end of a depositedbrick; and

a leveler and trowel behind said joint, and

a motar box associated with said trowel for receipt of mortar trimmed bysaid trowel.

6. A bricklaying machine comprising:

a generally horizontal rail;

ground engaging means supporting said rail;

carriages mounted on said rail and connected together for movement inunison along said rail;

drive means on one of said carriages and driving said carriages alongsaid rail;

a mortar supply means on one of said carriages and having outlet meansdisposed to discharge mortar where a brick is to be deposited; and

a brick hopper in one of said carriages;

release means associated with said brick hopper for timely release ofbricks therefrom for deposit on a wall as said carriages move along saidrail;

said rail having a loop therein lying in a horizontal plane and enablingpassage of said carriages around a corner.

7. The machine of claim 6 wherein:

the lineal distance around said loop exceeds the overall length of saidcarriages.

8. The machine of claim 6 and further comprising:

a switch at the intersection of portions of said loop, said switch beingsuspended from a bridge over said intersection and pivotally mountedthereto for rotation on a vertical axis for alignment of carriage rollerreceiving grooves therein with carriage roller receiving grooves in saidrail, said switch having detent means therein to maintain alignmentthereof with the rail during passage of carriages across saidintersection.

9. A bricklaying machine comprising:

a generally horizontal rail;

ground engaging means supporting said rail;

carriages mounted on said rail and connected together for movement inunison along said rail;

drive means on one of said carriages and driving said carriages alongsaid rail;

a mortar supply means on one of said carriages and having outlet meansdisposed to discharge mortar where a brick is to be deposited; and

a brick hopper in one of said carriages;

release means associated with said bric'k hopper for ing:

brick hopper floor means for supporting a plurality of stacks of bricks,

endless belt means extending at the side of said floor means from anentrance toward an exit and having finger means thereon at spacedlocations therealong between said entrance and said exit and engageablewith bricks stacked on said floor means for movement thereof from saidentrance toward said exit.

11. The combination of claim 10 and further comprising:

brick release means at said exit, said release means including a firstmember having an edge portion disposed below and supporting thelowermost brick in the stack at said exit, said release means includingfirst oscillator means coupled to drive means and operable thereby tomove the edge of said first member out from under said bric'k forrelease thereof;

and said release means including a second member operable by said drivemeans along with said first member to engage and hold the brick nextabove said lowermost brick as said lowermost brick is released.

12. The combination of claim 10 wherein:

said hopper lower means include low friction means facilitating lateralmovement of stacks of bricks therealong from said entrance toward saidexit.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS PRICE C. FAW, JR., PrimaryExaminer U.S. Cl. XJR.

